Chick-in-an-Egg

Early spring, with its skipping lambs and bobbing daffodils, is certainly a good time for whimsy. And Easter, with its symbol-rich traditions, is definitely a good time for whimsical knit chicks!

Like all new life at this time of year, these funny little chicks are spirited with the wonder of birth, blinking and peeping, curious and eager. Sounds a little like us battered northerners, emerging from the dark depths of a long winter, intent on what’s next!

Soft and squishy, roly and poly, these chicks are just the right shape and size for Easter baskets and little hands, and they’re knit up in one of our all-time favorite yarns, Koigu Premium Merino!

Fill your Easter season with lots of cheer and welcome spring with whimsy! -Whitney

Knit every round until piece measures 2 1/2 inches from cast on (or for 18 rounds).

Cut the yarn.

With a different Contrast Color, knit 2 rounds.

Cut the yarn.

To pick the next Contrast Color my rule was if the previous Contrast Color was 1 or 2, I now used 3, 4, 5 or 6; or if the previous Contrast Color was 3, 4, 5 or 6, I now used 1 or 2 (the one that I hadn’t started with). So, with this next Contrast Color…

Knit the Chick

Round 6: [Knit to 2 stitches before next marker, ssk, k4, k2tog] two times, knit to end of round. [4 stitches decreased]

Rounds 7-12: Repeat Rounds 5 and 6 three more times. [36 stitches]

Round 13: Slip the first stitch from the left needle to the right needle, [k4, ssk, (k4, k2tog) 2 times] two times. [30 stitches]

Now is a good time to turn the Chick inside out and weave in all the ends. Then, turn it right side out again and stuff the Chick so it is fairly firm but soft. I used 14 grams of stuffing for each Chick. Continue…

Round 14: [K3, ssk, (k3, k2tog) 2 times] two times. [24 stitches]

Round 15: [K2, ssk, (k2, k2tog) 2 times] two times. [18 stitches]

Round 16: [K1, ssk, (k1, k2tog) 2 times] two times. [12 stitches]

Round 17: [Ssk, k2tog twice] two times. [6 stitches]

Cut a 30-inch tail. Thread the tail onto a tapestry needle and sew it through the remaining stitches. Pull tight.

Make Tassel

With the tail still on a tapestry needle, insert the needle across the last round of stitches.

Bring the yarn back and forth across the top of the Chick, forming equal size loops. (Use two fingers as a guide to measure the loops.)

When you have 5 loops, tightly wrap the tail around the base of the loops a few times.

Push the needle down through the center of the tassel, exiting the Chick anywhere.

Trim the tassel and cut the tail flush to the Body of the Chick.

Stitch the Face

Feel free to make your Chick’s face however you want, but here’s how I made mine!

Beak

Thread a length of the Beak Color onto a tapestry needle.

Poke the needle into the body of the Chick and bring the needle out the third round of Main Color, centered above the vertical column of 3 purl stitches. Pull the yarn until a small tail is sticking out of the Chick.

Now insert the needle 3 stitches to the right and bring it out the original exit point.

Insert the needle 3 stitches to the left and exit 2 1/2 stitches to the right and one round up.

Insert the needle 1 1/2 stitches to the right and exit one round directly below the previous entrance point.

Insert the needle 1 1/2 stitches to the right and bring it out the body of the Chick somewhere.

Eyes

Thread a length of Contrast Color 1 onto a tapestry needle.

Poke the needle into the body of the Chick and bring the needle out 1/2 stitch to the right and 3 rounds up from the right end of the Beak. Pull the yarn until a small tail is sticking out of the Chick.

Now insert the needle 2 stitches to the right and 2 rounds down. Bring the needle out one round below the original exit point.

Insert the needle 1 1/2 stitches to the right and one round down. Bring the needle out 1/2 stitch to the left and 3 rounds up from the left end of the Beak.

Repeat the same steps to make the left eye. At the end, bring the needle through the body of the Chick and cut the tail.

Now thread a length of the Eye Color onto a tapestry needle.

Poke the needle into the body of the Chick and exit right below the center of the eye. Pull the yarn until a small tail is sticking out of the Chick.

Since our patterns have so many photos they do take many pages to print. However, if you don't need all the photos we suggest copying and pasting just the text (and whatever photos you do need) into a Word or Text Doc and printing from there.

I did print it "as is" and ended up with 24 pages. It would be just as useful with the photos reduced in size and any other changes possible to make it more compact. Most websites I'm familiar with have a more economical print option and I wish yours did too. Not only does it use a lot of ink as it is, having that many pages to contend with is inconvenient in itself. Cutting/pasting/editing is a good suggestion but just makes extra work.

We do understand your frustration but unfortunately we don't have the time or resources to reformat our free patterns to optimize them for printing. This particular pattern has 21 photos (which we think makes it very easy to follow!) but that also makes it quite long to print, even if the photos were smaller.

But thank you so much for sharing your thoughts- we really value your feedback and will keep it in mind moving forward!

You can't use a circular needle for these because they have such a small circumference. If you have never used double pointed needle before you might want to try making a simple hat to get the hang of it. This pattern is a great one to start with:

Thanks for the cute chick-cake! I copied and pasted the pattern into word and then shrunk all the photos. The document went from 20 pages to 7! I can't wait to knit this… but I need some chicken colored yarn!

My friend became a great-grandmother and the little guy was a preemie of about 4 lbs – and a month later June 5, 2015, he weighed in at 5 lbs. So maybe he’ll get to go home – depending on a few medical problems.

Yesterday I decided to use my Sz 2 – 9 inch circular needles to begin a hat for him. Yikes! My fingers don’t know where to hold on! But I have 1 inch of k2, p2 ribbing – and will see what happens.

Thank you so much for commenting! I think this project would be adorable as a hat, especially for a preemie size. If you click the print icon on the project you can remove photos or resize and edit the type as well.
I hope all is well with the baby and I wish you luck in your project!